Did anyone really believe he would cut taxes????
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081107/ap_on_el_pr/obama
"Obama also left the door open to the possibility economic conditions might prompt him to change his tax plan that would give a break to most families but raise taxes on those making more than $250,000 annually."
Take a look at my new ride.
Pretty awesome, eh? And it cost 0.2% as much as Steph's new ride. And hers is only a 5 speed, not an awesome 18 speed like mine. My ride uses less gas too.
The goal of this new bike is to use it as my winter bike--something cheap that I don't care how beat up and rusty it gets from the salt and snow and cold. I've already removed the baby seat. Although it weighs about a thousand pounds, I'm planning on converting it to a single-speed too, so I have less to rust out. From riding last winter, I determined even geared bikes are effectively single-speeds once the cables and derailleur springs rust so shifting freezes up. At least this way I can make a conscious decision of which gear to use instead of being at the mercy of whichever gear gets randomly chosen by the road sludge.
Makenna Jane was born Tuesday 7/29/08 at 1:51PM. She weighed in at 6lbs 14oz and was 19 inches long. Mommy and baby are both doing great.
Evie's a proud big sister. She keeps asking to "have Makenna back," which means hold her.
I saw this story about our tax system in the comments to a Journal Times article. It relates to the misleading notion that Bush's tax cuts are only for the wealthy.
A Graduated Tax Model
From the University of Georgia - Bar Stool Economics
Suppose that every day, ten men go out for beer and the bill for all ten comes to $100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this:
The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.
The fifth would pay $1.
The sixth would pay $3.
The seventh would pay $7.
The eighth would pay $12.
The ninth would pay $18.
The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.
So, that's what they decided to do.
The ten men drank in the bar every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve. 'Since you are all such good customers,' he said, 'I'm going to reduce the cost of your daily beer by $20.' Drinks for the ten now cost just $80.
The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes so the first four men were unaffected. They would still drink for free. But what about the other six men - the paying customers? How could they divide the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his 'fair share?' They realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that from everybody's share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would each end up being paid to drink his beer. So, the bar owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man's bill by roughly the same amount, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay.
And so:
The fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings).
The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33% savings).
The seventh now pay $5 instead of $7 (28% savings).
The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings).
The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% savings).
The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings).
Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to drink for free. But once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings.
I only got a dollar out of the $20,'declared the sixth man. He pointed to the tenth man,' but he got $10!' 'Yeah, that's right, 'exclaimed the fifth man. 'I only saved a dollar, too. It's unfair that he got ten times more than I!' 'That's true!!' shouted the seventh man. 'Why should he get $10 back when I got only two? The wealthy get all the breaks!' 'Wait a minute,' yelled the first four men in unison. 'We didn't get anything at all. The system exploits the poor!'
The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up.
The next night the tenth man didn't show up for drinks, so the nine sat down and had beers without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered somethi ng important. They didn't have enough money between all of them for even half of the bill!
And that, ladies and gentlemen, journalists and college professors, is how our tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up anymore. In fact, they might start drinking overseas where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier.
David R. Kamerschen, Ph.D. Professor of Economics University of Georgia
For those who understand, no explanation is needed.
For those who do not understand, no explanation is possible.
This little red car served me well for 7 1/2 years, and now it's gone. Oh the memories... I remember driving up to the North Shore for a small group retreat a few weeks after buying it. And falling in love with gas station cappucinos on my morning commute. And Mikey and me washing our cars in the drive on nice Saturday afternoons in SLP. Lots of road trips back to Illinois. And it was usually there to drive me home from the airport after a business trips. I hauled bikes on top for many mountain biking adventures. I picked up Rhema in this car. And this little red car picked up my now wife for all our dates. And for those who know how I dirve...I surprisingly didn't get any speeding tickets in the little red (want-to-be-sports) car.
It's all done and official. We don't own our house anymore. How can I possibly be relieved after such a painful kick in the teeth? Well, it's just a relief to not be paying a mortgage that I can't afford on a house I haven't lived in for 9 months. Now the fun begins--seriously looking for a place to live out here!
I have to say I love biking to work. Some days like today, I'm struck anew by how much I enjoy peddling in. I just moved in to Steph's parents' place, which is another 3 miles farther from work, and the roads are a little busier. So I've been hesitant, knowing it will take a little longer and I'll have to deal with more traffic. But I hopped on the bike and road in this morning. Oh, it's just such a good feeling to get in to work after having a good workout, not dealing with the stresses of driving and stoplights and freeways. No radio or unnecessary noise to irritate my sensitive just-woke-up ears. Just peace and quiet and riding as fast as I can.
The year of waiting is finally over. We have a buyer for our house!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Count the exclamations--that's really how excited I am about this.) The purchase agreement is all signed by both parties, and the buyer's inspection is complete but we have to wait 2 days to see if they have any issues with the inspection. And we now find out that our Truth in Housing report never got filed with the city. In fact, we never received a copy of it ourselves. Thankfully we have proof of payment, so the inspector is going to re-inspect ASAP. It's quite strange that after 13 months of selling the house, we're the ones holding up the process.
And by the way, we're planning on loading up a U-Haul Saturday morning May 10 and will be looking for volunteers to help. I know I can't carry a queen-size bed by myself and won't be expecting much help from my 6-month pregnant wife.
Well, it's been over a month since my last post. Shame on me! Here's a quick summary of what's been going on:
"Now therefore fear the LORD and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the LORD, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD." -Jos 24:14-15
Today I hit 2500 miles on my bike for the 2007 season. Back in March when I first hopped on my bike, I never would have guessed how many miles I would ride. Last year I was excited to break the 1000 mile mark, and I wasn't planning on going much beyond that this year. Then I started training for a century (100 mile) ride, and started a bike-to-work contest, and continued to ride even as the temperature began to drop. So today, here I am, just hopping off my bike in 5 degree weather, bundled up in neoprene shoe covers, running pants, balaclava, and ski goggles, 2504 miles under me....and 10 to go before I get home tonight...and there's still 3.5 weeks left of the year!
The weather people are even gutsier than ever. Can they really forecast 100% chance of precipitation?
The Minneapolis forecast:
Saturday: Periods of snow, mainly after noon. High near 28. Wind chill values between -1 and 9. East southeast wind between 9 and 18 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New snow accumulation of 5 to 9 inches possible.
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us -Heb 12:1There are many things that slow down our spiritual run that are not sin. I often think that sin is the only thing that keeps me from living the life God wants. I think this is the point of Jesus' parable on the different soils where the one doesn't produce fruit because it is choked out by the cares of this world ("As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares ofthe world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful." - Matthew 13:22). I don't want my usefulness to be choked out by cares of the world. So what weights do I have that are keeping me from running the race?
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us -Heb 12:1Where did we ever get the idea of "walking with the Lord"? The word here is run. So we should be running with the Lord. If we aren't at least a little bit tired, that means we're not obeying this verse. It is clearly not a sprint either, but an endurance race. That means there will be some days that are harder than others, some that are faster than others. We may need to take a little rest because we've been pushing too hard. But we need to pick up the pace!
There's one thing I really hate about this time of year. As much as I don't like Standard Time, the weather complainers are much more irritating. I try not to rant about Standard Time because 1-it is standard (Daylight Savings is just a wonderful present I get every single summer) and 2-it happens, so deal with it. Yes, it is a drastic shock to lose that hour of evening sunlight, but if it really bothered me enough to keep complaining, I should move to Indiana, Arizona, or Hawaii. Or, I could get up an hour earlier, go to work an hour earlier, and get my hour of sunlight in the evening...which is exactly what I started doing this week.
So, my other irritation are the weather complainers. Here's a simple observation: It's November, and November is always cold. Next comes winter--and it will be cold too. If you can't figure that out, you don't deserve to have a job that pays anything above minimum wage. And if you do have a job that pays above minimum wage, buy a warm coat, hat, and gloves and quit complaining about it. Or quit your job and move South.
Why the rant? Maybe it's because I just moved from Minneapolis and thought the people there complain too much...but people in Milwaukee complain just as much. The fact is, it's not even cold yet! It's not even below freezing...let alone negative. Maybe I'm just annoyed because it was 29 deg when I left my home this morning...on a bike...and I wasn't cold...because I wore a coat, hat, and gloves.
And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."
-Mat 28:18-20
What is the significance of the word "therefore" in this passage? It is tying the two sentences together--saying Jesus' authority is the reason to go. It is saying because Jesus has all authority in heaven on earth, the logical conclusion is to go and make disciples.
Most of the time when we use this sort of language, we have two parts that we're combining to get a "therefore" conclusion. For example, "I like coffee and Starbucks makes coffee, therefore I like Starbucks." This passage is different because it doesn't combine two things to get a conclusion, at least not explicitly. What would be there implicitly? What other factor(s) would go into our going? It could be "You love me and want everyone else to know me, but you can't do anything about it on your own."
So that's one possible interpretation of this passage. But I think the best interpretation is to understand the hidden piece as "and I am commanding you to make disciples." He's giving us the logical conclusion tied together with the command. We can infer a lot about the success of our mission based on the fact that Jesus has all authority, but that is not what he's saying here. The main point of Jesus' stressing his authority is to lend weight to his command. It's not a meaningless command coming from a 2-year-old. No, it is a command coming from the King of Kings and Lord of Lords who hold all power of life and death, and he says "Go and make disciples."
Therefore, I (we) best make disciples.
Now the chief priests and the whole Council were seeking false testimony against Jesus that they might put him to death, but they found none, though many false witnesses came forward. At last two came forward and said, "This man said, 'I am able to destroy the temple of God, and to rebuild it in three days.'" And the high priest stood up and said, "Have you no answer to make? What is it that these men testify against you?" -Mat 26:59-62
Next day, that is, after the day of Preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate and said, "Sir, we remember how that impostor said, while he was still alive, 'After three days I will rise.' -Mat 27:62-63
But you say, "Why does he not?" Because the LORD was witness between you and the wife of your youth, to whom you have been faithless, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant. Did he not make them one, with a portion of the Spirit in their union? And what was the one God seeking? Godly offspring. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and let none of you be faithless to the wife of your youth. -Mal 2:14-15This verse jumped out at me as speaking to the mystery of marriage, of how the two become one. The phrase "a portion of the Spirit in their union" is interesting to me. What exactly does it mean? It's as though the "union" is an entity in itself, which shouldn't be terribly surprising. We use the word "marriage" to describe this frequently, but I think it goes beyond our common use of the term.
For before those days there was no wage for man or any wage for beast, neither was there any safety from the foe for him who went out or came in, for I set every man against his neighbor. -Zec 8:10
